Our busy life with an amazing veterinarian and cattleman, a gardening, quilting and history loving wife and mother, a creative perfectionist violinist, a spunky and kind epileptic princess, a sweet yet wild little man, and the most mellow and happy babe, on a joyful 1/2 acre living and loving in a beautiful mountain valley.

Friday, November 27, 2009

I just got home from a friend's birthday dessert and this is what I came home to. So cute. The ENTIRE family on the hide-a-bed in front of the raging fire, totally crashed. I love them so much. Happy Birthday Jen!

We went to Nephi for Thanksgiving this year and it was FABULOUS! Aunt Laura. Ellen, and the rest of the Nephites did a fantastic job. We love going there. Matt loved going there when he was growing up, and our kids look forward to it also.

My little Emmitt with his grandpa and his dad.

It was such a beautiful day! The kids played outside quite a bit and it was so nice not to have 15 kids cooped up in the house all day long!

Kendal and Alissa (I think)

Kendal just calls the twins her 'cousins,'

I am not sure if she cares that they have names!

post turkey coma

Mike, Sarah, and Mark

the 15 grandkids again

Here they all are and so stinking cute.

Alynn made a treasure hunt for them. They LOVED it! They are all holding tootsie roll prizes from the treasure hunt excitement.

And here WE are!

For some reason, Grandma B's porch is always the place to take pictures!

I had such an enjoyable day. I loved chatting with my sister in laws, Matt's aunts and uncles, his parents, and his cousins. I really didn't want to leave. I could have stayed there for another couple of hours, but I guess we have to get back to reality sometime. I really was waiting for the steamed pudding to digest so I could have some more!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

I just dropped my girls off at school and of course I was listening to my FAVORITE and only radio station - KTMP, the local station here in Heber City. Richard Espinoza is the morning show host and he was playing a funny Ray Stevens song when the girls got out of the car - Eric the Awful. Then, he played this little 20 second blib from something that just cracked me up. It went something like this: (Imagine a pretty good hillybilly accent) "I like girls. I like pretty girls. I saw one with one of those little beauty marks on her face, you know like Cindy Crawford. Man she was perty. Well, I got to kissin' on her and it was a tick." Then it went straight into another song, George Strait or something, I was giggling too hard to remember.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

This is Kelsey's latest obsession. I wish I could do it again, like I used to. I tried it the other night and amongst all the popping and cracking and pain, I resigned myself to getting older. I can still TOTALLY school the girl in headstands though, and trampoline tricks - she has alot to learn to catch up!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

I went to our wonderful St Lawrence Thrift store a few weeks ago perusing and looking for something I could use for my Civil War wardrobe. I came upon a large plastic tub with a huge chunk of curtain in it. There was a paper on the tub that said "one 90" by 107" curtain panel $10.00." I thought to myself "Dang, this would make a great dress" as I was lifting it up and checking it out. Then I realized what I was thinking and I started to giggle right out loud in the thrift store. You see, after Miss Scarlet's home was nearly destroyed by the Yankees, she heard Mr. Butler was coming and quickly made herself an amazing dress out of the curtains in her home. Yeah, I am definately not like Miss Scarlet O'Hara, and the fact that I wanted to make a dress out of curtains just made me nearly wet my pants.

After the curtains we dismantled, the true width of the curtains was 270 inches, not the pleated 107 inches! I also have a really nice lining chunk too. I am thinking tent floor or something. Woodpile tarp? Painting sheet? RV cover? Covered wagon? Slip and slide for the entire neighborhood? Who knows.

After I separated the two layers, I took the brown fabric to the laundry mat and washed it. I lined dried in on my deck. It was much longer than my deck railing though!

I used 180 inches of it for my skirt. So I cut a piece that was 180 inches by 46 inches from the brown fabric.

My neighbor Debbie helped me figure out how to make pockets. She said I needed them. Now after the parade, I am so GRATEFUL I listened! My camera, the car keys, business cards, and Rebel soldiers' email addresses were hidden away nicely!

This shows you my skirt fabric. This is the 180 inches, that is 5 yards, that had to be gathered up around the waistband.

My skirt before the gathering, I mean gauging.

Bad lighting, but the gathering, actually, GAUGING process. 2 lines of 1/4 inches stitches all the way around with super strong upholstery thread.

Gathering it up and getting excited! I mean gauging, I have to get used to that word.

Here is the gauged skirt attached to the waistband, ready for sewing.

Another bad lighting, but here the skirt is now attached to the waistband.

Finishing the waistband.

Waistband and skirt complete. Check out the 'period correct' button! REAL period correct would have hand sewn their buttonhole. Sorry, not me this time.

So I left the hem in the bottom of the curtain, so it could be the hem at the bottom of my dress. But unfortunately, all the online sewing tips I followed made me make my skirt too long! So I had to add a 'bum roll' to see if that would help. This is the first of the bum rolls. It was WAY too big. I put in on and got the giggles so badly I fell on the bed laughing. I looked just like one of Cinderella's evil stepsisters. When I asked Matt what I looked like he said "Cinderella's nasty stepmom" before he even knew what I was thinking. But you notice how I compared myself to the sisters, YOUNGER. He compared me to the mother, much OLDER! Dang him!By the way, this picture makes me realize how badly I need a corset!

So for parade day I made a much smaller bum roll and it worked out okay. The skirt is still a little too long, we will see what I need to do now.

Next project - a lighter day dress. I am pretty stoked about this. I just have the find the right fabric - 8 1/2 yards of it!

Monday, November 09, 2009

When we were school shopping for the girls this year I saw some darling 'soft shoes' at Sketchers for Emmitt. They were nice soft shoes that little kids can wear without lugging around heavy, hard, HUGE shoes. I loved them, but not for the Park City price of $30.

Since then I have kept my eyes open for some cute soft shoes like that for him that weren't so much money. I never found any, well I did on a little girl named Charlee, but they were on her feet and not for sale! With all of the clothing research and blog stalking I have been doing for my Civil War adventure, I found a site that shows you how to make soft shoes for babes.

So last night I cut them out and today I put them together. Keep in mind, this is my first attempt and there are definately things I will change on the next pair I make. But TA-DA!

They are blue corduroy on the outside, leftovers from a sleeping bag I made for Kelsey when she was 4 months old. The lining is leftover red fleece from a hat I made for Kendal when she was a baby.

I sewed them up while Emmitt was napping today. Here they are on - he loves them. Well, I don't think he could care less. I love them! How nice to keep his little feet warm this winter. The boy eats his socks and won't leave them on!

Here is the link if you are interested. The directions seem a little intimidating, but they are not so bad. If you want to make some and want to know my tips, let me know.

Sunday, November 08, 2009

I have been sewing nearly nonstop for about 3 weeks to get something to wear to the Veteran's Day parade in Ogden this past weekend. I know, it doesn't look like much, but understand that there are many LAYERS under that skirt!

My friend Amanda and I joined the Utah Civil War Association and this was our first activity with them. We were super nervous, but it turned out to be such a fun, great day. She and I have been preparing and ignoring everything else in our worlds to get ready. This is the group of guys we hooked up with at the parade. They were very nice and super friendly. I am not sure if they realize what they are getting themselves into by letting us join, but it is too late now!

Amanda has some haversacks that we filled with tootsie rolls to throw out. We realized VERY quickly that we were the ONLY ones in the entire parade that were throwing candy. It might have been against the rules, I am not sure. But I threw some to the guy with the microphone that was announcing all the parade entries and he didn't cuff me and drag us off. Actually he said " . . . and here are the Civil War soldiers. Oh, and look, the ladies are throwing hardtack tootsie rolls. The war between the states was an important . . . "

My mom took these pictures. She and my dad came up for the weekend. They stayed with us Friday night, took care of my kids on Saturday (parade day), bought us a delicious Ogden lunch, and then went to stay with Tori Saturday night. They were wonderful. I am not sure what I would have done without them. Matt had to work in Roy on Saturday and then in Heber City preg checking cows for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Thanks so much mom and dad!!

Amanda's family also came to watch the parade and play the day away in Ogden. It was so fun to see them. When we were tossing candy, we made sure to keep a reserve for our very own little ones. After we saw them, the candy disappeared in a matter of seconds!

I didn't get to see the parade, obviously, but it looked like a good one from where we were. My brother would have LOVED the bagpipers! I really liked seeing the spectators with signs they had made that said "Thank you Veterans" or "Thanks for my Freedom." I am a patriot at heart and it made me happy to see grateful Americans at the parade cheering on our way of life.

I left my house Saturday morning around 8:30. I left all my kids with my parents, who came down to Ogden an hour or so later. I met up with them again around noon. My sweet little Emmitt and I have never been apart that long before because I am his main source of nourishment. He was getting VERY hungry and was so happy to see me again! Thanks again Mom and Dad for a super fun day. Thanks Amanda for having such a good time with me - getting dressed in the parking lot and all!

We are going to have a super fun time doing this. I hope everyone knows that this is open for everyone. The folks are so layed back and just want to have a good time. If you are interested in joining the party, you should. Check out the link http://www.utcwa.org/

I have quilt guild meeting tonight. We didn't have one in October, so it seems like it has been a long time since I have seen my quilting ladies. I joined the Friendship Block Exchange this year and so I have had to make a few blocks this past month. My friend Natalia passed out patterns to everyone and told us to use "happy" fabric for her block. She wanted bright and cheerful, not dark or country colors. So I made purple and gold (yellow) cheerful. Purple and Gold were my high school's colors. There is nothing like BADGER Purple and Gold!

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Have you ever watched a movie that is set back in time in the 18th or 19th century and someone in the movie gets a letter and it is sealed like this? Have you ever thought "Wow, how would it be to get mail with a gooey glob of gunk sealing it, and some cool imprint stamped on it, just for me?"

Well, I have, and I got mail yesterday just like that!Check it out!

Yeah, Larry Bowman, Infantry Surgeon of the Kentucky 2nd Regiment of the Confederate Army sent me a letter and it looks like this. It is dated Oct 1863. I totally dig it.

Monday, November 02, 2009

There were 72,000 horses and mules that 'fought' in the battle of Gettysburg. By fought I mean they were there. Either as a cavalry unit, pulling cannons, pulling ambulances, etc. At the end of the Gettysburg battle, 5000 of them lay dead on the field. WOW.